Updated at 12:10 p.m. Sept. 28 — The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its plan to remove radioactive waste from the West Lake Landfill Superfund site.

The chosen solution will remove about 70 percent of the site’s radioactivity and dispose of the waste at an out-of-state facility. The $205 million plan is similar, though less expensive, to what officials proposed in February.

On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency approved plans to clean up radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site.

The agency plans to remove about 70 percent of the site’s radioactivity and dispose of the waste at an off-site facility. The entire process is estimated to cost $205 million and take about four and a half years to complete.

When the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced its plan to remove much of the radioactive waste from the West Lake Landfill, some activists and residents celebrated.

But many residents expressed frustration and disappointment that only some of the waste would be removed before the site is covered. They said they’re still concerned about groundwater contamination, which might not be prevented by a partial removal, and worried that they might not be able to move away if the government doesn’t come up with a buyout plan. Some still don’t trust that the EPA can deliver on its promises.

Residents of a Bridgeton neighborhood were denied the chance to move away from the West Lake Landfill Superfund site after Missouri lawmakers last week rejected a bill that would have paid for a state agency to buy their homes.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, would have allowed 91 families in Spanish Village, the closest neighborhood to the landfill, to sell their properties to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill last month, but when the bill moved to a conference committee, lawmakers cut funding for the bill from $12.5 million to $1 million. The measure failed in the House, 79-65.

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to test areas in Bridgeton for radioactive contamination.

Federal officials are responding to allegations made by residents near the West Lake Landfill. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday against against landfill owner Republic Services, Michael and Robbin Dailey claimed contamination from the Superfund site was found in their home.

The Environmental Protection Agency misled the people who live near the West Lake Landfill by suppressing a key report that concluded the radioactive waste could be removed, residents alleged on Thursday.

The nine-page document was finalized in 2013, but was just released on Wednesday afternoon. It contains recommendations from the EPA's National Remedy Review Board to address the waste at the Superfund site.

"It appears feasible to remove more highly contaminated material and significantly reduce long-term risk at the site," the report said.

Updated at 4:38 p.m. on Sept. 17 with audio - On Thursday’s “St. Louis on the Air,” state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, announced her resignation as a member of the University City School Board.

On Thursday’s “St. Louis on the Air,” host Don Marsh brought together several different parties to talk about ongoing community concerns over radioactive contamination at the Bridgeton and West Lake landfills. He was joined by:

Véronique LaCapra - St. Louis Public Radio’s science reporter. She has reported extensively on the situation at both landfills

The underground fire at the West Lake Landfill Superfund Site does not produce air pollution that exceeds hazardous standards, the regional head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.

“The air around the West Lake Landfill site in north St. Louis resembles the air elsewhere in metro St. Louis. There’s nothing distinctive,” said Karl Brooks, who leads EPA’s Region 7 from his office in Kansas City.

Environmental activist Lois Gibbs will be in St. Louis this weekend for a “teach-in” to address problems at the adjoining Bridgeton and West Lake landfills, located in Bridgeton a few miles from Lambert Airport.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: For two and a half hours, federal and state officials were bombarded Tuesday night with the same angry message from hundreds of frustrated people packing the auditorium at Pattonville High School:

A House interim committee appointed to examine the state’s response to last year’s flooding and tornadoes held what was supposed to be its final hearing – but it ended early when no one from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) or the Department of Public Safety showed up. Kinder, who chairs the committee, says they will now send a letter to the Nixon Administration asking for written testimony.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is asking the State Emergency Management Agency to explain why the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton has not received $500,000 in FEMA funds to help it recover from the 2011 Good Friday tornado.

A toddler taken from a Bridgeton hotel room last week has been found safely.

Detectives with the Bridgeton Police Department received a tip early Saturday evening that 2-year-old Brooklyn Hunter and Albert Cory Hunter were at a St. Louis Bread Company at 6701 Clayton Rd. Clayton police investigated the tip and found the pair. Albert Hunter was arrested without incident - Brooklyn did not appear to be injured, but Bridgeton Lt. Steve James says she was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 25, 2011 - With all the attention now directed at the tornado-generated tragedy in Joplin, federal and local authorities are reminding victims of the St. Louis area's less-deadly April 22 tornado that they face a July 8 deadline for seeking federal help.

U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, held an hour-long teleconference Tuesday night with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration, as well as several area mayors.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 20, 2011 - A small collection of items waits now at the Bridgeton Community Center: a photo of a smiling little girl with silver-blonde hair, a 70s-era portrait of a man with chunky sideburns, a small 5-by-7 wedding album, a beaded necklace, a religious statuette. And there's a death certificate.

A former police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton faces sentencing in July after pleading guilty to taking a $5,000 bribe.

The U.S. Attorney's office in St. Louis says 38-year-old Scott William Haenel of O'Fallon also admitted obstructing a federal investigation in his guilty plea on Wednesday.

Federal authorities say a person cooperating with the FBI met several times with Haenel between November and January and paid him $5,000. In exchange, Haenel agreed to help conceal a money laundering scheme involving drug trafficking money.